World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Read online

  “Already with the books,” Rose complained, pulling out a book of her own. Then, noticing the look I was giving her, she stuck her tongue out at me then grinned.

  I don’t think I was able to read for more than fifteen minutes before the heat started to distract me. Fifteen minutes after that, it was unbearably hot, and reading was no longer an option for either of us. However, casting ‘Holy Heal’ spells repeatedly was a very good use of my time.

  Spell: Holy Heal

  Rank: Beginner

  Level: 19

  Experience: 2.11%

  Description: Suffuse a target with Holy energy, healing their wounds and restoring their life.

  Spell Healing: +517-640-HP

  Spell Cast Speed: 2-seconds

  Range: 25-yards

  Spell Effect (Active): Heal a single target.

  Mana Cost: -238-MP

  Or it was until Marie put a stop to it, stating, “Save your mana, you are going to need it to start the Diamond Heart.”

  “How much mana am I going to need?” I asked.

  “All of it and more,” Marie said.

  “Can I start charging the Heart now?” I asked.

  Marie rotated the spear, checking to make sure it was being heated evenly and not answering at first. After a minute, she said, “Unfortunately, no. You can only bring the Heart to life once it has been set into the weapon, not before then. Also, when you do feed in your mana, you need to hit it with bursts of mana, a hundred points of mana at a time. And even more complicated, you need to pulse the mana to the beating of your heart.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked, not believing what she’d just told me. “And you’re just telling me this now?”

  “Well, you were gone for a week, and it was not like we had an abundance of time in the Endless Savanna to go over it,” Marie defended. “I am sure it will be fine.”

  “I can help you with that,” Rose said softly.

  “How?” I asked, feeling confused.

  “Vampire, I can see heat, remember?” Rose answered.

  I nodded, not really seeing what the point was.

  “So, I can also see your pulse that way as well . . . sort of. The heat kind of pulses off your body with each beat of your heart,” Rose explained.

  “Oh,” I said dumbly. I actually had forgotten about her ability to see heat due to her Vampire lineage. “Thanks,” I added as an afterthought.

  Rose shrugged, not really telling me anything.

  “Can you do it even with all this heat?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you actually show up as more of a cold spot instead of a hotspot,” Rose said. “Just pulse when I say.”

  “Maybe a tap on my hand or something,” I suggested. I thought the tapping might be faster than actual words.

  “Just about hot enough,” Marie said, rotating the spear again. “When I say I am ready, I am going to put the spear on the anvil and set the Diamond Heart in place. You need to put your hand on the heart and push down into the spear. Start pulsing your mana as soon as you touch the stone.”

  “I will,” I said, nodding even though she was turned away, concentrating on the forge.

  “Ready,” Marie said, her hand resting on the spear, her muscles tensed and ready to act. “Now!” she said, swiftly pulling the spear from the forge and placing the glowing red tip on the anvil. With a calm and deft hand, Marie placed the perfectly smooth gemstone about a foot below the bladed tip.

  As soon as she pulled her hands away, my palm was pressed to the surprisingly cool to the touch gemstone. Then I felt the flare of heat from around the edges of the precious gemstone and feared my fingers were going to be melted away. But before I could panic, I felt a tap-tap on my shoulder and pulsed my mana in rhythm, -100-HP with each tap. Then another tap-tap alongside more mana.

  I didn’t pay much attention to the time as I continued to pulse out mana. I just watched my mana levels, drank when I needed to, and kept pushing out mana.

  “I think you are good,” Marie said, breaking me out of my almost trancelike state.

  Legendary Quest: Spear of Gungnir III – Completed!

  Find the blueprints for the next level of the Spear of Gungnir and the necessary materials and bring them to Marie Tuesday.

  Reward: +50,000-Experience, Spear of Gungnir III

  I looked down at my spear. It was bone white once again, the blue veining running the length of the shaft, and when I lifted my hand clear, the gem was gone, embedded into the core of the spear. Despite its absence, I could feel the spear pulsating with new energy. I picked it up to finally examine it and a smile split my face.

  Main-Hand/Two-Handed:

  Spear of Gungnir III

  90-94 1h Dmg, 114-120 2h Dmg

  Bonus Stats: The Spear of Gungnir is a legendary weapon of Odin, the All-Father of the Norse Pantheon. While this is but a pale imitation, it is still most formidable. One-Handed Base Attack Speed 2.00 – One-Handed Weapon Damage 90-94 (Scalable to Lvl 30 - +4-Damage per level) – Two-Handed Base Attack Speed 1.80 – Two Handed Weapon Damage 114-120 (Scalable to Lvl 30 - +5-Damage per level) – +30-Strenght, +30-Dexterity, +30-Stamina,+30-Intellect, +30-Stamina Regeneration +30-Mana Regeneration, +100-Holy Spell Damage and Healing (Scalable to Lvl 30 - +5-Holy Spell Damage and Healing per level) – Unbreakable – Soulbound

  The Spear of Gungnir III was a truly dangerous weapon. This upgrade boosted my Strength and Stamina Regeneration, but more importantly, it increased all previous boosts by +10, except for spell damage and healing which increased by +20.

  Legendary Quest: Spear of Gungnir IV

  Find the blueprints for the next level of the Spear of Gungnir and the necessary materials and bring them to Marie Tuesday.

  Reward: Experience, Spear of Gungnir IV

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  Of course, I accepted the quest.

  “Well?” Marie asked impatiently.

  “Yeah, well?” Rose echoed.

  “It’s amazing,” I said, holding it out for both of them to examine.

  “That is very overpowered,” Rose said, pouting a little as her eyes looked down at her own Mystic grade scalable shields.

  Putting the spear away for the moment, I retrieved the next blueprint and held it out for Marie.

  Marie snatched the blueprint from my hands and glared at me, “Again, you have been holding out on me.”

  “Not really holding out, just . . . trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves,” I defended. “Besides, you couldn’t use it until now anyway.”

  “That is not the point,” Marie snapped, then holding up the blueprint and jabbing a finger at the cover, she said, “I have had Barclay out searching for this thing for the last month.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Why didn’t you say so?”

  Here Marie frowned before answering, “Last month you seemed to have a lot on your mind. I thought I could do this to help you out.”

  I mirrored her frown. I didn’t realize she’d noticed. Did the others notice? I looked to Rose for help.

  “Jack, you had every right to be distracted,” Rose said. “But you have a solution, this weapon will go a long way to ensuring we realize that solution.”

  “Can you tell me what it was that was bothering you so?” Marie asked.

  “I . . . I’m not sure,” I answered. “I don’t know what the rules are with telling citizens of the World Tree. I know for sure I’m not allowed to tell the other adventurers.”

  “I see,” Marie said with a nod. “Well, tell me if and when you can. For now, let us see what new hell my father has lined up for us,” she said, opening the blueprint.

  I waited patiently for Marie to read the instructions and tell me what we needed next. Seeing the color drain from her face was not reassuring.

  “Dragon,” Marie whispered.

  “What?” Rose and I asked, not quite hearing what she said.

  “Dragon,” Marie repeated, sinking to her knees.
“A Gods be damned ancient dragon. My father is a mad God. Who needs Chaos when we have him to give us an impossible task?”

  “Ancient Dragon?” I asked. That sounded really bad. “What do we need from an Ancient Dragon?”

  “A claw,” Marie answered, sounding utterly defeated.

  “So, I know nothing about ancient dragons, or dragons in general, at least not as far as how they are in the World Tree,” I started, stumbling a bit as I spoke. “But I’m guessing an ancient dragon is super dangerous and will probably butcher us with ease, yes?”

  “Yes,” Marie replied.

  “And is there anything that says we need to confront an ancient dragon today or tomorrow or even next month?” I asked.

  “No, I suppose not,” Marie said, perking up a little.

  “Good, then we have time to get strong enough to take on an ancient dragon and kill it then take one of its claws,” I said.

  “But that could take years,” Marie groaned.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I said, offering a hand to Marie.

  “You had better not,” Marie said, accepting the hand and letting me pull her back up to her feet.

  “Now, what do you say we go see some Goddesses then meet our friends for dinner?” I asked.

  “I suppose,” Marie said.

  “Good. Then let’s go,” I said.

  We were barely five feet out the entrance to the temple when I took note of nine people I didn’t know, all of whom were between level 22 and 28. All of them adventurers. All of them staring at Marie.

  “Couldn’t even go a day, could you Jack?” Rose asked, stepping up front with her shields at the ready.

  “This is not my fault,” I said, brandishing my spear and stepping up next to Rose.

  “Is that her?” asked, looking to standing next to him. Pollock was slightly taller than me, he had long Elvin ears and a pale complexion that suggested he was a High Elf. He was also armed to the teeth, a sword at each hip, a bow strung over his shoulder, and a bandolier filled with throwing knives across his chest.

  “That’s her,” Winterbloom answered. Winterbloom was short, shorter than even a Dwarf but not as short as a Sprite. I honestly wasn’t sure whether they were a he or a she. Whatever it was, it was covered by a cloak with the hood pulled up to hide the face. “She was the one with the gem.”

  “You’re too late, we’ve already used the Diamond Heart,” I said, hoping that would dissuade the players from attacking.

  Pollock smirked. “It’s not the gem we want,” he said, pausing a moment for effect, he pointed at Marie. “We want her.”

  Chapter 3 - Micaela

  Micaela skipped clear of the blue portal and back into Root City. She was excited and ready to get to work on her new Order, the Epic Grinders. But first, all her totems demanded they be acknowledged and greeted. “Hello everyone, I’m back.”

  “It is about time,” Butch said gruffly. The wolf spirit that inhabited one of her axes always acted tough and gruff, but Micaela knew that deep down, Butch was just a puppy dog. Despite that, Butch was powerful, focusing his development on dealing more damage with a single hit.

  Sundance greeted her next, “Welcome back.” Micaela’s other ax spirit was kind and gentle compared to his brother. His powers centered around fire, so while he might not do as much single target damage as Butch, he could do a lot more damage to a lot more targets.

  “Finally, we can run soon, right?” Boots asked. Boots was a very nervous and fidgety horse spirit that Micaela placed into her boots. Boots helped Micaela get around faster, giving her a movement speed boost.

  “We will, we will,” Micaela promised.

  “Your other totems are so noisy,” Mover complained.

  “I like them,” Shaker countered.

  Mover and Shaker were a pair of gorilla spirits that Micaela had picked up along with their Shaman master, Palm. The pair used Earth techniques, one to move the earth and the other to shake the enemy upon impact.

  “Hey, you two, do not go causing more trouble,” Palm said, then added, “I do not want her to decide to inventory us. If I miss out on seeing all the half-naked adventurers running around in chainmail bikinis, I will be mighty cross with all of you.” Needless to say, Palm was shameless and more than a little lecherous. Once upon a time, he was destined to become the new Duke of Anvilton, before his brother betrayed him, killed him, and trapped his spirit on an island. Then Micaela rescued him and placed his spirit into an emerald which was now placed within her stone armor.

  “Lecher, you are nothing but a lecher and a pig of a Dwarf. If Micaela did not need you to keep hold of her totems, I would disperse you myself,” the newest of Micaela’s totems stated, then added, “Good to see you returned to us.” Kali was the granddaughter of a tribal Shaman that Micaela met just over a week ago. On the recommendation of Kali’s grandmother, Micaela sought her out and offered to bring her along on their adventures. Kali agreed under the promise that Micaela would send the spirits of Kali’s annihilated tribe on to the next plane of existence, which of course she did.

  Anyway, Kali and Palm, both former Shamans, added to Micaela’s spirit stat as well as helped to command the various totems while in combat. This was especially helpful after Micaela sacrificed almost all her Spirit stat to help defeat the Mfalme Chimera that declared her husband an enemy or nemesis or something like that.

  Speaking of her husband, he was finally stepping out of the logout portal. “Hey, babe,” Olaf greeted her with a grin. It was a bit of an awkward look with the bull’s head that was common on Minotauri.

  “Hey,” Micaela replied with a matching grin. She was sure her grin looked just as awkward as she was also a Minotaur. “This is going to be so much fun.”

  “I know, I know,” Olaf said, trying and failing to temper his wife’s excitement. “Do you have the vouchers Maggie said would be in your bag?”

  Micaela paused to open her bag. It only took a few seconds before her hand emerged with a pair of rolled-up scrolls. “Got them,” she cheered. “I’ll head to the Order office and then straight to Hurligville to meet our daughter. Ooh, I can’t wait to see what kind of avatar she chose to play. Or what name. Do you think she’ll be a Crushhammer like us? Or will she choose something else? I can’t wait to find out.”

  “Alright, alright,” Olaf said, trying to calm his wife once again. “I’ll go meet up with Bye-bye and the others and see what the plan is. We might not make it to Hurligville until tomorrow so make sure you get rooms for everyone. And yes, I’ll watch over Vision until I can reunite him with you.”

  “Does everyone include Titan?” Micaela asked then shook her head. “Never mind, doesn’t matter, he’ll just stay with Baby if he comes along. Alright, I’m off, have fun.” Without waiting for a response, Micaela was already moving toward the government ring.

  “Love you too,” Olaf called after her.

  “Love you,” Micaela shouted but never turned back. She was on a mission. A mission that started with stopping the first Patrolman she saw as soon as she entered the governmental ring of Root City.

  Root City was much like the last time Micaela was there, but perhaps a little busier than she remembered if the number of people running around with player nametags was anything to go by.

  “Ah ha,” Micaela shouted, pointing to a Patrolman, startling the young human girl and several of the passersby adventurers and citizens.

  The Patrolwoman halted in her tracks and pointed to herself then looked around to make sure she was the actual target.

  “Yes,” Micaela shouted with a nod, before skipping over to her. “I need your help.”

  “Oh, of course,” the Patrolwoman seemed to perk up now that she had an idea of what was going on. “How can I help you, adventurer?”

  “First, my name is Micaela Crushhammer, nice to meet you,” Micaela introduced herself.

  “Patrolwoman Finley Sparks,” she replied. “Nice to meet you a
s well. Now how can I be of assistance?”

  “Finley Sparks, wow, that is a great name,” Micaela said with a cheerful smile.

  “You really think so?” Finley asked, getting distracted from her job.

  “Oh, definitely. Learn a little lightning magic to go with it and you’re in business,” Micaela advised. “Anyway, I need directions to the nearest Order Office.”

  Finley was caught off-guard by the sudden change in topic, but being the professional she was, she refocused and answered. “The nearest Order Branch is two blocks that way,” she said, pointing to Micaela’s left.

  “Thank you,” Micaela said, already running in the direction she was told.

  “You are welcome,” Finley called after her. Little did Micaela know that she just set Patrolwoman Sparks on a journey that would forever change her life.

  Two blocks from Finley, Micaela was scanning the various buildings looking for the Order Office, or Order Branch as Finley called it. Micaela kind of liked that it was called the Order Branch, like branches of the World Tree. It was kind of clever.

  Micaela hoped the Order Branch was going to be some large and imposing building with massive marble columns and dozens of high-level guards. What she got was a small squat building with an unadorned coat of arms hanging over an open entrance.

  Inside wasn’t any more impressive. There was a simple desk with a Gnomish man sitting behind it and looking rather bored to be there.

  “Hi, I’m Micaela Crushhammer and I’m here to form an Order of Service,” she stated loudly and proudly as soon as she got inside.